Calm before the dawn
by myoue
Summary: In front of Levi, Eren was reduced to little more than a puppy with a playful glint in his eyes.


"Eren."

The boy's head turned toward the sound of the voice with the speed of a hunter zeroing in on its prey. He dashed over, dropping the cloth he was holding into a bucket of water to stand in front of Levi with absolute formality. "Y-Yes, corporal!"

Levi stared dully at him with his arms folded across his chest, giving Eren a once over. "Go to the next room. I'll finish up here." He said this as he waved his hand dismissively in front of his face.

Eren's eyes screwed up in determination as he did a one-handed salute to his forehead. "Understood!"

Levi looked at this kid with his messy hair and his clumsy attempt at being a dutiful soldier. Eren had cleaned the windows exactly as Levi told him too. He had also dusted the cob-webbed walls and wiped down the grimy left over furniture in record time. In fact, he swept the floors so vigorously that when Levi coughed and yelled at him that he was just spreading the dust around, Eren immediately toned it down a notch and started sweeping in small apologetic circles. Levi had found the kid's obedience so amusing that he simply sat on an already cleaned desk chair and watched Eren run around the room in a frenzy with a constant look of worry, as if he was expecting to be reprimanded at any time. Levi had never seen anyone like him.

With the corporal's last order, Eren headed toward the door to the next room. However, Levi called out to him again, stopping him in his tracks.

"On second thought, have a lunch break."

Eren turned to look at his commander, surprised at the abrupt change of mind, which he could only take as a sudden onset of kindness. However, the corporal's face remained devoid of any kind of obvious expression except for a slight glare as if he were closely watching for Eren's reactions. In contrast, Eren's eyes glowed as his face broke into a coy smile and he replied shyly, "Ah… okay."

Levi waited for him to leave but Eren stood in the doorway for slightly longer than necessary, looking as if his mind was stuck on something. His eyes fixated on Levi with a sort of hopeful gaze as he opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again and a blush began to form on his cheeks.

"What is it, brat," Levi asked harshly before Eren could turn around and run out the door. "Spit it out."

Eren jumped, now fidgeting a little under the ruthless atmosphere Levi had suddenly put him under. He seemed to regret pausing in the doorway altogether now but he gulped and proceeded to speak in a slow, hesitant voice.

"Nevermind," Eren had managed to get out. "…I'll go now."

Levi raised an eyebrow at this, but nevertheless allowed Eren to turn and leave. The room fell silent, with only Eren's faint footsteps growing quieter. It seemed he really did go to get lunch instead of proceeding to the next room.

Levi heaved a sigh and rolled up his sleeves to pick up the wet cloth in the bucket.

The damn kid should have just said what he wanted to say.

Eren was an enigma to Levi. Every time the corporal passed by the boy with Armin and Jean and the rest of the sorry lot of them, all he could hear were shouts or insults being thrown one after another with Eren's boisterous voice clearly ringing out among the others. Whether it be in the meal house or passing each other on the street, it seemed Eren always had something to say to someone. He yelled at Jean, he talked excitedly with Armin and Mikasa, he talked seriously with Reiner and Bertholdt, and yet with Levi he shied away as if he were afraid anything he would say or do would get him whipped. He would barely keep up a normal conversation with Levi aside from answering to orders or asking about orders, and anything else he said in Levi's presence would be quiet gibberish.

It irritated Levi. He could admit he purposely put off a rather intimidating demeanour, but everyone on the Scouting Legion had their own weird quirks to balance each other out and none of them seemed to react like an awkward blushing schoolgirl just by being around him. It didn't seem like Eren was afraid of him per se, it was more like… he was hesitant to show his true nature. Where was that murderous glint in his eyes he had when they first met? That irrational determination? That unexplained shiver of excitement? That slight upturn of a ravenous grin as he made the promise of a lifetime?

Levi wanted to see that kind of emotion again.

* * *

Eren was walking out of the meal house when Levi had spotted him while on his walk around the site, keeping an eye on everything and making sure nobody tried to pull anything stupid. Eren was smiling at something someone had said to him on his way out, his eyes closed together as his laughter sparkled through the air and punctured any sense of rational thought that might have been going through Levi's head. It ticked the corporal off, how Eren could be showing this side of him to other people without any care. Was he like this with everyone but him?

Levi strolled over to stand in front of Eren who was still jeering at people behind his back instead of paying any particular attention in front of him. Before he could turn around to watch where he was going, he crashed into Levi who stood still as a rock and instead knocked Eren backwards. Eren winced in pain and steadied himself before seeing just what it was that he walked into. As soon as he caught sight of who he bumped into, Eren immediately stiffened and yelped either out of surprise or fear.

"Sorry!" He moved back and bowed furiously. "I didn't see you, corporal— I-I mean! I wasn't looking!"

Levi narrowed his eyes. This kid was quick. He barely had time to register any anger at Eren's jab at his height. He didn't think the kid was all too bright, but he also didn't know much about what exactly went through that brain of his.

"Eren." Levi beckoned him over with his finger with an almost sinister look on his face. "Come here."

Eren still looked scared, but ultimately it was probably confusion that overtook his expression. He stepped over carefully until he was directly in front of Corporal Levi, his face stricken with panic. Unsure of what to expect, Eren stood as still as possible as Levi reached up to his face with his right hand. Eren felt fingers curl underneath his chin and, before he could react, a thumb swiped over and stroked the corner of his open mouth.

Eren squeaked as he flinched out of Levi's grasp. His face grew into a dark crimson as his eyes widened in mortification and a hand flew up to cover over his face.

"C-Corporal! What are you doing!?" Eren floundered as he looked away embarrassedly. The corporal had oh so gently caressed the corner of his lips, and he didn't know how to react to this sudden gesture. Was this supposed to be a punishment? Levi had to suppress an all too smug look.

"You had food on your face," he answered coolly without letting any kind of inflection affect his voice.

This was a lie, of course. There wasn't anything on his young subordinate's face. Levi merely wanted to see what Eren would do in this kind of situation, how he would act when his face was touched so intimately, what he would say as he struggled for the right words to express his inelegant shock. And also, Levi maybe wanted to know how soft Eren's face would feel like. He was not disappointed.

It seemed Eren had recovered from his sudden lapse into awkward humiliation as he looked at the corporal with a light pout now crossing his lips even though his face remained a little flushed. He used his own hand to wipe at all sides of his face, making sure that there indeed was no food still. "Corporal, please don't make fun of me."

In this last moment, Eren's face and voice somehow changed. The boy had talked with an almost reprimanding tone, as if his words were the only things holding him back from something he'd rather not do. There was something dancing in his all too-bright green eyes; something challenging and mischievous and it took Levi aback. It was there and gone in a split second and, as Eren politely dismissed himself and took his leave, it left Levi wondering. Wondering just what it was that Eren was challenging him to.

A week later, Levi had decided to really test him again. He cornered Eren in the hallway of their living quarters when they were alone and none too gently pushed him up against the stone wall with his hand fisted in the younger boy's shirt.

"So, Eren," Levi began, his breath ghosting over the boy's neck. Eren shivered and gulped and tried to keep his footing as the corporal gazed sternly up into eyes. "Have you ever done it?"

Eren looked surprised, as he probably has been to everything the corporal was doing to him lately, whether it be eyeing him questioningly from afar or confronting him with these late night _talks_. Though none of them so far were as bold as the question Levi just threw at him right now. Eren was probably afraid to answer. "D-done what, sir?" he asked, looking just a little too ignorant.

"_Done _it," Levi reiterated. "With _someone_."

"Someone?"

"_Sex_."

"Oh."

It was only a small exchange, but already Levi felt a little exasperated. Who knew this fifteen-year-old kid had enough gall to keep testing his patience like this? Up to this point, the only things they talked about even under no one's watch were asking if Eren was getting used to the Legion or if he still cared about hanging out with his other friends. To Levi's annoyance, the boy had smiled and said everything was fine and he was getting along fine with everyone including his old friends. Levi wished he hadn't set himself up for a typical answer like that. So he decided that he wanted to know exactly how chummy he was getting with others. Granted, he perhaps could have started off with asking about something a little less risqué, like a kiss, but for some reason it seemed embarrassing for someone like himself to care about something as measly and insignificant as a simple kiss. Though the thought of someone else taking a kiss from Eren, having their lips all over his for extended periods of time, somehow irked Levi.

At this point, Eren seemed to be sweating profusely. He dodged eye contact while chuckling nervously and saying meaningless things like, "Hahaha… what are you talking about, corporal? I'm only fifteen afterall."

Levi really couldn't take this kid's incessant sidestepping anymore. Lately, the kid had just been acting too polite and friendly with him and frankly he was sick of it. He wanted a proper statement and he wanted it now.

"Just answer the damn question, you brat," he ground out as he gripped the boy's shirt so hard it was probably going to leave marks after.

If Eren wasn't scared witless before, he looked it now as he was practically lifted into the air from the corporal's strength. He may or may not have been on the verge of crying when he finally gasped out, "N-no I haven't! I swear! I really meant it… I _am_ only fifteen and besides, I think you should wait for someone you love and cherish a lot and I—!"

Levi really couldn't care less about what Eren was rambling on about now. He shut him up by pulling his grip on Eren's shirt down and shoving his lips against his. Eren gasped into the kiss but Levi refused to let him go until he felt satisfied. Satisfied of what, he didn't know. Levi wasn't about to admit that he felt as if a weight was lifted off his chest at Eren's words. So whether it be because he needed an outlet for all of his unresolved feelings lately towards Eren or as a reward for the kid's celibacy, Levi didn't let go until Eren was squirming beneath him and his hands tried desperately to cling onto Levi's hold on his shirt.

When Levi finally pulled away, Eren was flushed and gasping for breath and he slumped against the wall behind him. His half-lidded eyes and clouded mind probably barely registered Levi licking his lips afterwards as he walked away triumphantly, leaving Eren to slip all the way down the wall to sit on the floor trying to retain proper intakes of breath.

With his back turned and his face now out of view, Levi couldn't hold back a smirk. Eren had tasted pretty good.

It had been another few weeks and Levi didn't want to acknowledge the fact that that last incident with Eren had pretty much wrecked him. Eren's flushed face was all he could think about in between documenting important paperwork at his desk in the morning to finishing up a daily rinse in the outhouses at dusk. It didn't help that whenever he caught Eren looking his way, the kid would blush and turn away awkwardly, suddenly finding something else to preoccupy himself with like pretending to cough violently before leaving presumably to find a tissue he didn't actually need.

Although, Levi was able to admit that this did swell his ego to a certain extent. Seeing Eren so reactive to him, and only him, made Levi want to do more things to the boy. More things out of the public eye and in close quarters. He wanted to see Eren completely undone, to see his expressions that nobody else had seen before, or will ever see for that matter.

Levi had decided to step it up a bit. If he saw Eren walking along the border walls and nobody was looking, he would march right up and kiss the daylights out of him until Eren's knees fell to the ground. If Eren was getting his serving of lunch at the meal house, Levi would lean in close and whisper dirty things into his ear until Eren was shaking with embarrassment. One time, when Levi ordered Eren to retrieve some things from the cleaning closet, Levi went right in with him, and afterwards they both emerged with Eren thoroughly disorientated from the skillful handjob Levi had just given him.

And then on one quiet night, Levi received an unexpected knock on his room door. He had just settled in but got up to get it anyway, half expecting it to be someone annoying like Hanji telling him excitedly of more Titan experimentation exploits or Irvin reporting his efforts on coming up with their next strategy.

However to Levi's honest but pleasant surprise, it was Eren. He wasn't carrying anything with him nor did he have the usual day's maneuver garb on, rather he was dressed in his casual attire. Though, his eyes were narrowed with determination and it seemed he was breathing heavily, as if he had just finished running all the way here from the other side of the city.

"Fuck me," was all that Eren said, his eyes upturning and giving off a slight glint.

Levi stood there, raising an eyebrow, but nonetheless standing his ground in front of the doorway and not moving a muscle. He stared Eren down who stared right back.

"Oh?" Levi responded. "And who the fuck said you could give me orders?"

Eren clenched both of his fists as he visibly shivered. He ground his teeth together and a low growl could be heard rumbling deep in his throat. He parted his lips to show a fierce grin as he gazed at Corporal Levi with the intensity of a hunter.

"Please," Eren breathed out harshly. "Fuck me."

With that, Corporal Levi smirked. Eren was dragged into the room, the door shutting loudly behind them as the night dragged on and on until dawn.

* * *

Eren was just happy that he could finally put the moves on the corporal.

* * *

**you can probably tell at what point i become sexually frustrated writing this**


End file.
